Here’s The Pentagon’s Cost Analysis Of The Death Star From Star Wars

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The Pentagon found that building, operating, and maintaining the Death Star has a hefty price tag.

The Pentagon’s Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation performed a cost estimate on the Death Star from Star Wars, with one estimate coming out to roughly $193 quintillion, according to VICE.

The Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office’s lead, Dr. Jamie Morin, said that number very well may be in the right ballpark.

“We don’t have the engineering level of detail we would like in order to produce a reliable cost estimate on either building or operating a [Death Star],” Morin told VICE. However, “I’d also note that authoritarian regimes often have just as hard a time getting reliable data for costs as we do, though Force powers might help.”

He suggested that in addition to that development figure, operating ships often costs roughly 50 to 70% of the total cost of buying and maintaining that system. If that holds true, then the lifecycle range could total $300 quintillion.

In order to cut costs, Morin suggested the use of droids or drones and automation, adding that training personnel to man the ship would be very costly.

Unfortunately, as far as U.S. defense policy goes, “the Empire’s Death Star projects also run counter to one of the most important moves the current U.S. Secretary of Defense is taking with our acquisition system: focusing on payloads, not platforms,” Morin said.